


That which is important

by Khalehla



Category: Captain America - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Fix-It of Sorts, M/M, Not Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Compliant, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:55:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24125497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Khalehla/pseuds/Khalehla
Summary: You would think that after having to fight actual aliens and meeting (and fighting beside) extraterrestrial beings, there would be very little to surprise Steve anymore. Yet here he is, about to fight an army of sentient robots on a floating country and Steve starts to wonder if the future is going to forever be this intense.Steve and his merry band of Avengers rescue kids, floating planets, and nearly fight an army of sentient robots.--Or: How Age of Ultron would have ended if Magneto were around
Relationships: Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Comments: 5
Kudos: 137





	That which is important

**Author's Note:**

> Yup, #stillsalty
> 
> And I just wanted to show off Erik's incredible ability
> 
> A few end notes for clarity's sake

You would think that after having to fight actual aliens and meeting (and fighting beside) extraterrestrial beings, there would be very little to surprise Steve anymore. Yet here he is, about to fight an army of sentient robots on a floating country and Steve starts to wonder if the future is going to forever be this intense. 

Sometimes he has to stop himself from turning to his side and muttering, “Jesus, Buck, so this is the future, huh?” because well, Bucky isn’t here. A year after DC and Steve still hasn’t managed to find his best friend despite the world tour he’s managed to drag Sam and sometimes Natasha to and sometimes coming oh so close, signs of Bucky in the places they end up in as proof that his best friend was still alive, no doubt trying to find himself in the wake of the horrors that were done to him. Steve wishes with everything he has that he could be there with Bucky; to help his best friend, to ~~absolve himself from the guilt of~~ make up for _letting go_ , to finally have a purpose for his being in this still-strange new century. It kills him every time he comes so close but not close enough, but he's not giving up. Not this time. Not ever. 

But back to the sentient robots.

So here Steve is, in a circle with his fellow Avengers and two teenagers with special powers, ready to fight not just for Sokovia and their own lives, but the future of the world as well.

Well, he _would_ be if Ultron and his metallic army didn’t just suddenly _freeze_.

“What. Is going on?” Clint asks cautiously, bow still raised. “Tony, did you do something?”

“Nope,” Tony says. “If it was me, I wouldn’t’ve waited until the last possible second to unleash my brilliant plan of stopping them. Or maybe I would, because why not-”

“Tony!” Steve warns, eyeing the immobile Ultron with wariness and disgust, his grip on his shield not loosening. “Just tell us what’s going on.”

“I don’t know,” Tony whines almost in frustration, “But if you give me a second I can-”

Before Tony can tell them what the hell is happening, though, Steve’s enhanced hearing picks up the sound of an engine. From the way Thor is tilting his head up to the sky, it’s obvious he’s heard it as well. Seconds later the hum of the engine becomes more distinct and an aircraft - long, black, sleek and surprisingly quiet - starts to descend into the courtyard. Despite them all still in battle formation, they all look in the direction of the plane, tense; none of them are ready to believe that the sudden freezing of the sentient robots and the new arrival within seconds of each other is a coincidence, and they’re all ready to face the newest threat.

“Uh oh,” the young girl - Wanda - says as the hatch opens and a man in a flowing cape steps out, flanked on each side by a person in a black jumpsuit.

“What’s wrong?” Steve asks her somewhat sharply. “You know them?”

“We are in so much trouble,” Pietro says. “ _So_ much trouble.” 

“We are so grounded.” Wanda again.

“Yup, grounded. For _life._ ”

“That explains this though,” Wanda says, face scrunching up as she waves her hand in the direction of the still frozen Ultron. “Not that it makes it all better.”

“Wanda, care to explain what’s going on?” Clint asks her, voice tight. “Who are they and how did they manage to freeze the robots like that?”

“What’s more important is how dangerous they are and how do we stop them,” Natasha interjects. “If they can do that to Ultron…”

“Oh that won’t be a problem, really,” Pietro shrugs. “He’s most likely here to yell at us, but if we tell him what happened, he’ll probably thank you.”

Before Steve can ask how and why Pietro knows this, Tony blurts out. “ _Magneto!_ Oh no! That _does_ explain everything!”

All eyes now turn to Tony. 

“Tony, friend, are you well?” Thor asks, frowning.

“He’s fine.” 

Like syncronised swimmers, they all spin around to face the strangers who are now standing in the archway, watching them. Steve notices several things very quickly. First, is that the stranger in the cape who Steve assumes is this Magneto person that Tony was flailing about, who, despite having his face half obscured by a magenta helmet, looks very unimpressed at them all. The second is that one of his companions is blue. With bright red hair. And yellow eyes. She (Steve is assuming she is a she given the curves and err, _ample_ chest underneath the jumpsuit) looks amused as she takes in the formerly sentient robot enemies and then Wanda and Pietro huddling together, trying to avoid Magneto’s scowl. The last of their group is wearing a strange red visor, scanning the area and otherwise ignoring them all after a perfunctory nod at Wanda and Pietro. It’s very clear to Steve now that whoever these new people are, the twins obviously know them, and he relaxes minutely.

“Hello,” Steve says, then waves his shield at Ultron, “do we have you to thank for this?”

Magneto just grunts at Steve, then turns to Tony. “Stark. What have you done this time?”

Tony’s face plate comes up and he squawks rather indignantly. “Well, _excuse_ me. Also, you mind unfreezing me magnet-man?” 

Steve blinks at that, only just noticing that Tony indeed has been very still since the other robots froze. _Still_ doesn’t explain how the caped man managed to do what he did, though.

Magneto waves his hand and Tony makes a slight lurching motion. “Just because I live on an island doesn’t mean I don’t watch the news, Stark, and the world getting taken over by sentient robots? That just had your name written all over it.”

Steve is even more confused now; Tony and this Magneto guy know each other?

Tony huffs. “Why is it everyone automatically assume that a tech related disaster is always caused by me?”

Even with the helmet on, Steve can see just how exasperated Magneto’s eye-roll is. “You don’t want me to answer that,” he says before turning to the twins. “Care to explain why I had to find out while watching _television_ that the country you were supposed to be doing _work experience_ in experienced a robotic hostile takeover hell bent on destroying the world?”

“Uh,” Pietro says eloquently, exchanging a look with his sister.

“And could you also explain why, when Charles attempted to contact you, he couldn’t?”

Wanda straightens from where she’d been huddled to her brother. “They had this machine that controlled our powers, Opa,” she says, face flinty. “Like psionic blockers.”

“Except you know, they made us do stuff, too,” Pietro shrugs, shoulders hunched in and looking miserable and guilty.

Steve almost doesn’t realise what the twins are saying since he’s so caught up in how Wanda called Magneto ‘Opa’, his German intact enough to know that it means ‘grandfather’. But then it registers a split second later that the kids have been _brainwashed_ this whole time. Bucky’s face comes to the forefront of his mind and it’s all he can do not to slam his shield into Ultron over and over; he desperately wants to hit something. Hard.

Magneto and his companions stiffen at Pietro’s word, the blue lady coming closer to hug them. “Are you two alright?”

They both nod.

Magneto beckons to them. “Come, let’s go home.”

The blue lady lays one hand on each twin’s shoulder, and nudges them in the direction of their plane, and Clint blurts out, “Wait, you’re just _leaving?_ ”

Magneto gives him an almost confused look. “Yes. I would like to take my grandchildren home after everything they’ve been through; do you have a problem with that?”

“Not necessarily a problem,” Steve says placatingly, “but since you kinda dealt with _them,_ ” - he gestures to the formerly sentient beings still standing around - “you wouldn’t happen to know if they’re permanently disabled? Just in case we have to, you know, deal with them again once you fly off to whatever island you came from?”

Magneto turns back to Steve slowly, eyes sharp. He then looks around him, raises his hand, and slowly starts to clench his fist. To Steve and the rest of the Avengers’ utmost surprise, the robots start to crumble inwards as though they themselves are being crushed inside the palm of Magneto’s hand.

Someone - likely Clint - whistles, as one by one, the robots are destroyed, their lights blinking out as they are rendered into nothing but scrap metal. Although he can only see their immediate vicinity, Steve is going to assume that Magneto’s managed to crush all the robots on the planet.

“Wow,” he says in awe, kicking at the remains of the once powerful Ultron at his feet.

“You can say that again,” Natasha murmurs.

Magneto raises an eyebrow. “Anything else?”

“You wouldn’t mind doing something about the floating planet, would you?” Tony asks.

Magneto gives him a flat look. “Stark. You don’t call, you don’t write. You don’t even visit Charles when he’s in Westchester, but you somehow expect me to fix this problem that you’ve caused.”

“I told you, it wasn’t me!” Tony objects, throwing his hands in the air. “And besides, you know if I could control magnetic fields I’d do it myself, but you’re the one with the mutation here, not me. Do you _want_ Sokovia to stay floating up here forever? I agree it’s not exactly your island paradise, but think of all the displaced people.”

Magneto tilts his head at Tony for a few seconds, then nods. The next few moments are silent as Magneto seems to be concentrating hard, waiting. “I suggest you all hold on to something,” he says eventually, “this could be rocky.”

Steve is about to object, wanting to know how the hell Magneto plans on fixing the ‘floating country’ problem, but then the blue lady snaps, “Do as he says” while she and her visored companion hold on to one twin each as they grab for something stable. Steve decides it’s best to obey so he places his shield onto his back and holds on to one of the pillars. He’s soon glad he did, when the planet starts to rumble lowly.

“Holy shit,” Clint whispers, then, “Oh my god, we’re actually _moving!_ ” 

It’s all Steve can do but hang on as the planet starts descending slowly. There’s a moment of alarm when Hulk starts to get agitated, but Natasha and Tony manage to calm him down, though he doesn’t quite revert back to Dr. Banner yet.

“Stark,” Magneto barks, “get out there and tell me where you want this damn thing.”

Tony immediately powers his suit and flies out even as they keep descending, coming back less than a minute later. “Can you feel the crater directly beneath us? There should be the drills and metal bollards there that Ultron used to push the country out. You think you can land it exactly where it came from? Just you know, aim straight down.”

“You don’t ask for much, do you?” Magneto says through clenched teeth.

Tony spreads his hands. “Well, there’s not really anywhere else you can put it.”

Magneto just glares at Tony, though the island doesn’t stop descending.

They settle back down into the earth a few minutes later with a loud rumble and jolt, Magneto slumping down, hands on his knees as he breathes hard from the exertion. Pietro reaches his side in a blink, his sister not far behind.

“I’m fine, _schatzi_ ,” Magneto says as Wanda’s hands roam over his face worriedly. “Just a bit tiring, is all. That wasn’t easy.”

“I must say,” Tony says, looking slightly awed. “I’ve seen you do some pretty impressive things, but that was something else.”

Magneto gives Tony a wide grin, his smile full of teeth, before pushing his grandchildren gently away in order to stand. “We are leaving now,” he says, all seriousness again. “Any other requests?”

Everyone shakes their head.

Magneto nods at them all, gives a parting, “Try not to blow up the world again, Stark” then leads his companions and the twins onto the plane.

Steve practically gapes at them until the plane is out of sight, then turns to Tony. “Who was _that?_ And how the hell do you know him?” 

“And how the hell did he _do_ that?” Clint adds, “Coz dude, that was _amazing!_ ”

“His mutation is the ability to control magnetic fields and metals. Hello Hulk, you think you can let Brucey back to play yet? Since the earth has a magnetic field, he could do what he just did.”

“ _Mutation?_ ” Steve repeats, not sure if he heard right. “Does that mean he’s a…?”

“Mutant, yes,” Tony nods, almost absent-mindedly crooning while Natasha says the lullaby that would bring Dr. Banner back. “And from what’s happened here, I’m pretty sure that the powers those two kids had were simply their mutations being controlled by those Hydra dicks. Just when you think they can’t get any more vile, you find out they’ve been experimenting on _children_.”

Steve can’t help the sneer at the reminder of what’s happened to the twins, but before he comment further, a plaintive “Does anyone know where I can get a spare shirt?” brings his attention back to the present. It’s only a small reprieve until they have to face the media and what’s sure to be the fallout of everything that’s happened, but Steve’s only giving it as much attention as Pepper will think is needed, then he’s off again in search of Bucky. If there’s only one thing that he’s going to take from this particular shitshow, it’s that Wanda showing him his deepest, darkest thoughts: that Steve just wants to _rest_ \- and he can’t do that until he knows that Bucky is by his side, safe. He’ll take the world apart if he has to, but they’d promised _end of the line_ , and they weren’t there yet. Not by a long shot.

**Author's Note:**

> I made the twins the grandchildren of Erik here because I thought that Steve and the X-Men being contemporary would contradict Steve not knowing much about mutants - he's still catching up on history so although he knows about them, he's not *that* caught up yet. 
> 
> The quick backstory for anyone who's interested, is:
> 
> \- Erik and Charles rule Genosha but I imagine the characters more as comic-verse, particularly in the Krakoa timeline.  
> \- Erik's biological children are Lorna and Anya. Anya's mother Magda did run away and hid, but when Anya, who can speak to animals (co-opted movie-verse!Nina's ability) became pregnant (she doesn't want to talk about the father) and Pietro started manifesting his abilities while a toddler, Magda and Anya decide to hunt Erik down in Genosha  
> \- Magda and Erik do *not* get back together; Charles and Magda actually get along surprisingly well. Anya accidentally calls Charles "Papa" one day and it sticks.  
> \- Wanda and Pietro go to Sokovia as part of their work experience for university, but get caught and brainwashed


End file.
